Ted Sequel Announced, Wahlberg CoHosting 2013 Oscars with Seth Mcfarlane

[D'Snowth]

No one in High School randomly breaks out in song like HSM.

They do on Glee too. It's almost like a level of Sesame Street, there's even the background that literally comes from nowhere accompanying the singing.

I've never heard of this Once Upon a Time.

Seriously? That's been, like, one of ABC's BIGGEST hits for the past two years or so.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Really? Huh...guess I just wan't paying that much attention

And I don't watch ABC, so I guess that's why

 

[jvcarroll]

Oh for the love of...

GLEE IS NOTHING BUT A GLORIFIED HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!

Yes, the Disney movie that came out way before the show. All these "glee rip-offs" owe their debt to High School Musical.

I don't get your point. HSM did reignite a trend, but they didn't create it or do much of anything new with it either. Glee is nothing like it except for the fact they both feature singing and they take place in High School. Thematically and substantively, they are very different. By your assessment, every police procedural is a Dragnet rip off, every medical show is a Quincy rip off, every live studio sitcom is an I Love Lucy rip off and so on. Also, where are all of these "Glee rip-offs" that you speak of? Maybe they're on the Disney Channel or something, but I haven't seen any other such TV programs on network television. I guess there's Smash, but that's really nothing like Glee except that it features singing.

But the popular show on that really drives me bats? Once Upon a Time. It's very high concept, I'll give it that. But it takes itself too darn serious and uses Disney versions of fairy tale characters, especially if they're completely anachronistic. Peter Pan is a tale that takes place at the end of the 19th century... how the heck does it exist at the same time as Medieval/Renaissance age tales like Snow White? It's essentially a dark version of Shrek to me. Plus I kinda have a bias for Grimm. It's not perfect, but it doesn't take itself seriously. That's another bias. I like Action comedy.

Thank you for saying that. I've tried to watch Once Upon a Time and I just don't get it. It plays out like bad fan fiction. It's just too absurd yet far from interesting. I don't understand the appeal or how they've attracted talented actors. Grimm is not my type of show, but I can see it's appeal.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

read my last post on the previous page. I'd also like to know where these "glee rip offs" are myself, which is why I had it in quotes. Snowthy was the one to mention them...

 

[jvcarroll]

read my last post on the previous page. I'd also like to know where these "glee rip offs" are myself, which is why I had it in quotes. Snowthy was the one to mention them...

Ah, I guess it was him that said that. Maybe he means movies or Disney Channel programs. Still, I can't see how anyone who's actually watched several episodes of Glee could equate it to HSM. Maybe their commercials look similar.

 

[jvcarroll]

Sorry for the double post, but on another note...

Glee has come under fire for covering the arrangements of cover artists. Basically, a program like Glee only needs to purchase the rights to a song from the original songwriter. They can then recreate the musical arrangement of any other cover of the song without giving the cover artist any money or credit. It's legal, but not ethical. The only party with the right to object to it is the original rights holder. I predict a law-changing class action coming soon.

 

[Oscarfan]

Some alluded to Pitch Perfect earlier in the thread. I wouldn't say it's a knock off, but capitalizing on the tred of Glee. I had not much fun watching it, especially because it was 12 in the morning and I was one of maybe two or three sober people in the room.

 

[D'Snowth]

read my last post on the previous page. I'd also like to know where these "glee rip offs" are myself, which is why I had it in quotes. Snowthy was the one to mention them...

I think Pitch Perfect was the movie I was ttrying to think of previously.

Other than that: Smash, The Wedding Band, Nashville are just three more off the top of my head that I can think of.

Granted, they're not high school, but they clearly are obviously trying to be the next Glee's.

 

[jvcarroll]

I think Pitch Perfect was the movie I was ttrying to think of previously.

Other than that: Smash, The Wedding Band, Nashville are just three more off the top of my head that I can think of.

Granted, they're not high school, but they clearly are obviously trying to be the next Glee's.

I'll grant you that the Pitch Perfect previews seem Glee-like, but the rest on that list are just shows and movies that contain musical performances. We might as well include "The Muppets" because it had songs and dances. I just don't see an exploitation of the trend. Now, a case could be made for a trend of procedural crime shows on TV. Lots of those.

 

[Drtooth]

Thank you for saying that. I've tried to watch Once Upon a Time and I just don't get it. It plays out like bad fan fiction. It's just too absurd yet far from interesting. I don't understand the appeal or how they've attracted talented actors. Grimm is not my type of show, but I can see it's appeal.

I don't dig the trend of these new super serious dark fairy tale projects. Once Upon a Time seems to be the only successful one. I have to admit, this is just as bad as the goofy parody fairy tale trend started by Shrek.

Ah, I guess it was him that said that. Maybe he means movies or Disney Channel programs. Still, I can't see how anyone who's actually watched several episodes of Glee could equate it to HSM. Maybe their commercials look similar.

Wasn't Glee created to be the antithesis of the saccharine, Saved by the Bell-esque cartoony portrait of High Schoolers anyway? That's what it seems to me. A angsty swipe at HSM with outcasts and jocks being jerks instead of singing during basketball games. Still, I watched like 2 and it didn't hold my interest. I was pretty disappointed by the Rocky Horror episode. And I like Jane Lynch... just not so much on that show. I actually thought she was funnier on 2.5 Men. She certainly made that show funnier.

As for Nashville... I don't see the connection to Glee. It's all about inside industry stuff and backstabbing and eh... I'd liken it more to Dreamgirls, if anything. Smash seems like it came out of, if not inspired by, Burlesque. Glee and HSM at least have a "they take place in High School" link.

But going back to Family Guy... the show has vastly improved the last couple of seasons, but there's something special when it was one of those products of the 1999 primetime animation boom. Anyone remember that? We had all these weird adult cartoon shows and most of them went no where. I find Dilbert to be the sadly underrated treasure of the group. I never cared much for that comic until the cartoon. But Family Guy and Futurama were the only ones that walked out of that. And they weren't canceled as quickly either. I'm far more the Futurama fan than most of the prime time cartoons out there.

But Family Guy really was something special when it started out. There's so much stuff in the classic episodes I miss. Like the fact they were humane to Meg. Remember there was an episode where Lois wanted to get revenge on a bunch of Queen Bee girls because they picked on Meg? Or Peter being at least a little competent and not turning into a manchild? And my personal favorite, how the pop culture characters co-existed with them without cutaway scenes and they were drawn in FG style. And the one thing that bugs me... how come they keep merchandising evil Stewie shirts and hats when he hasn't been evil since like 5th season?